There are all kinds of social media channels out there, but I love Instagram the most. Beautiful pictures? Pretty outfits? Inspiring quotes? Delicious food? Instagram is the one place you can get it all. (Visually, at least.) It inspires me to stop and take note of the beauty already around me, and it gives me a reason to get creative in the everyday.

Lots of people are looking for more out of Instagram, and I’m one of them. I started with just a personal Instagram with posts that were anything amusing or fun. Now as I’m trying to build a community and brand, my new account that is more focused and curated. My goal is putting together the best pictures I can, while still being real. I’ve taken courses and webinars, and read posts to try to build a better ‘gram. Together, I’ve compiled for you the best tips for Instagram growth that I’ve tried, and showcasing the actual results I’ve seen from putting them to use.

Note: This post is entitled “tips for Instagram growth” and not “tips for Instagram followers.” You could get a whole bunch of accounts to follow fast in a bunch of different ways, including buying them. But to grow you Instagram into a community of real followers – that takes work that is worth the reward: a group of individuals (not just faceless likes!) that actually interacts with you.

1. Optimize your bio. Give your bio slot tons of personality! It’s the one of the first things someone sees when they look at your page. I know, similarly, I’m more inclined to follow people with clear info about themselves. Mine includes who I am, what I post about, a hashtag I started, and my email. Results: I saw more followers soon after I prettied up my bio. And it’s a lot of people who are interested in the same things I am, since they know what I post.

2. Post consistently at the same time/s every day. Most people recommend only posting once or twice a day, and I agree. Don’t overwhelm your follower’s home feed with your posts! Save posting for your best pics, only a couple times a day. You can use different apps to figure out the best time for you, and then post at those times.

Results: After starting to post once a day, at the best time for me, in the evening, and my “likes” went up to over a hundred for each post. I started seeing the same people like my photos, and am now interacting with them even more, which has been so fun.

3. Use the same editing app and filter each time. Since most people recommend editing your photos, I started to do just that – and ended up editing them all differently, which left me with a hodgepodge of different-looking pictures, even if they were pretty. The best advice I found to solve this was through Think Creative Collective, which recommended the app “PicTapGo”. It costs $1.99, but you can save your own filter to use again and again, so you use the same one each time.

Results: Now all my pictures are much more cohesive, and look like they belong together. You can see it instantly from my profile page.

Results: She’s right. They really do at least triple your likes. One night I posted a picture and forgot to add my hashtags. I got about 25 likes. I re-posted with hashtags. Over 100 likes.

Resources:

I’ve taken Helene in Between‘s Instagram for Success e-course. This girl has the stats to back up her great tips. She goes into editing and working with brands in detail. Plus she constantly updates the course, which you have forever access to, and also shares great tips through the course’s private Facebook page. It’s an investment, but I really learned a lot from the course.

I also went through Small Talk Social‘s free email course, Wham.Bam.Instagram. It was hands-down the best free course I’ve taken on the topic! She helps you dive a little deeper into your posts and account and figure out what your goals are. She also has great posts on her blog about Instagram. Totally recommend.

Like what you see? I’m putting together a 30-day challenge called #rockyourinstagram to help you grow your account. You can only get it by subscribing for my newsletter, which comes out monthly and always has a freebie. Sign up now, so you don’t miss out! (Challenge will go out February 1.)

Subscribe now for next month’s freebie: a free Instagram challenge!

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So how am I doing? Come follow me on Instagram and see for yourself! Be sure to introduce yourself so I can check out your page, and feel free to share your favorite Instagram feeds in the comments below.

What a year it has been on What You Make It. I mentioned it in my Best of 2015 post, but I’ll say it again: I can’t believe how much this little ol’ blog has grown this past year.

Started working with Social Fabric, Clever Girls Collective, Pollinate Media, and other networks

Grew to nearly 10,000 social media followers

Hit 200,000 page views in one month

Sent a monthly newsletter to over 1000 readers

Saw more interaction from readers than any year previously

First of all, thank you so much. I can’t tell you how much it means to me when you read, comment, follow, or share. This blog has become such a joy and a blessing, and I am so grateful that you’re along with me for the journey.

And now I want to give you the opportunity to sound off! This short survey (just 10 questions) will help me get to know you, and give you more of what you want in 2016. I’ll be sharing the results in an upcoming post.

This blog started about four years ago. But it wasn’t until this year that it really started taking off. I got my first sponsored posts, started getting a newsletter and subscribers together, joined ad networks, began to see growth in my social media. It started looking like the blogs I admired.

I’ve had many people, in person and online, ask me how it happened. How did I get sponsored posts? How does my social media grow? It’s a lot of factors, and it’s hard to figure out where to start.

But there is one major change that happened this year that made a huge difference. Are you ready?

I stopped hiding behind my blog.

For those first three years, I kept it a big secret. I hardly told anyone in my real life about it. I didn’t have a Facebook page for my blog, or other separate social media accounts, because I was so afraid my real life friends and family would find out about it.

And even more than that, I was scared of putting myself out there. I kept my face out of pictures as much as possible, and I wrote about things that didn’t apply to me or didn’t go deeply into my life. I didn’t “pin” my own posts, and I didn’t share them.

The biggest thing that held me back was my own fear. It kept me from owning my blog – and it showed. I really believe that’s why it didn’t grow for a long time. I was terrified that people – both in real life and online – would think what I wrote and said was stupid, that they’d think I was ugly, that they would think my style was lame, that they would think I was self-obsessed because I had this blog.

And honestly – people might actually think those things. Oh well.

But what I came to find out was that my friends and family have totally supported me. Being more confident in blog life has increased my self-esteem overall. And I have something that I’m proud of, that has reached goals and become successful, at least for me.

So that’s one of my biggest pieces of advice: have the courage to be the face behind your blog. Share it with your real life friends, put yourself in it, own it! It will help you move forward.

Do you have fears about putting more “you” into your blog? What would be your biggest step in owning it?

When I first started a blog, about four years ago, the topic was photography. No other niche was a good fit for me – mostly because I just follow other people’s recipes, I don’t shop or wear couture, and my DIY projects are usually Pinterest fails. But I like taking pictures. So photography won.

Then I noticed there were blogs out there with lots of different topics to offer. One blogger called hers a “lifestyle blog.” I assumed that a lifestyle blog meant write about whatever you want, and I liked that idea. So I created a new blog, and labeled it “lifestyle”.

My thinking wasn’t necessarily wrong. You can find lifestyle blogs with all kinds of different topics, because everyone’s lifestyle is different. When I started mine, everything was fair game – my weekend, outfits, Pinterest attempts, a really yummy dinner I made, random thoughts. While it was fun for me, and maybe a few family and friends, it ultimately wasn’t a blog anyone would want to read.

If you can technically write about anything, then what makes for a lifestyle blog? Or more directly, what makes a successful lifestyle blog?

Know Your Audience. A successful lifestyle blog knows the kind of readers who will be interested in their material, and will write to that audience.

What is the fastest and easiest way to figure out who your audience is, or should be? Tell me about yourself. What are your interests? What kinds of blogs and posts do you like reading?

If you don’t know where to start, build your blog around things you like. You will gather readers who are interested in the same things. Plus, you won’t be building your blog on what you think other people want to read (or worse, what you think will make you successful), which can come across as insincere.

Have a Set List of Topics. Lifestyle blogs don’t have one specific niche – they have several categories they cover. If you’ll notice, mine are the following:

These topics keep me from being too random (except for the “Life” topic…shh…), and helps me come up with content. If I haven’t written a marriage post in a while, for example, I’ll know to schedule one. Narrow your interests down to specific topics, and gear your posts towards those things. You’ll attract an audience that is interested in one or more categories, and they’ll know what to expect from you.

Make Your Posts Useful. Here’s the key that brings it all together. While you absolutely can and should share your life with us, the most successful, shareable posts are ones that are useful for the reader. Don’t necessarily cut out your weekend summary posts, but up the ratio of tutorials and informational posts. Or even better, incorporate your life into your informational posts. Write about your weekend getaway, and give tips on how the reader can put together one of their own.

For some examples, here are some of the most popular posts from What You Make It: